Equal Education (EE) has asked the South African Department of Basic Education to check on school feeding programmes in Limpopo province.

The nonprofit called for audit of the programmes in the province based on report that some learners in Mashashane, Polokwane, are still not getting food on days they are not scheduled to be at school.

The North Gauteng High Court had ruled in July 2020 that the department must roll out the National Schools Nutrition Programme (NSNP) to all nine million qualifying learners, whether or not they were attending school.

But EE activists said during a campaign in Mashashane they were shocked to discover that some learners did not get meals on days they do not attend school.

They said learners were not aware that they could pick meals up from schools near their home.

‘This is not acceptable. There are no arrangements for learners to pick up food at school or a school near where they live on the days they are not scheduled to be at school’, GroundUp quoted EE Coordinator in Limpopo, Sibongile Teffo, as saying.

‘The department must fulfil its constitutional obligation and have clear communication between schools and parents’.

It is understood that some learners only received meals twice per week at school.

‘I have not seen anyone going to pick up food on days we are not at school and no one informed us about that’, a grade 11 learner in the area said.

But the education department has asked EE to submit a list of schools where learners were not getting meals.

School feeding is a small part of the integrated food security strategy for South Africa. The strategy, which was introduced in 2002, involves the departments of health, social development, land affairs and agriculture.

Source: GroundUp

Photo source: Reuters/Mike Hutching